Archive - Aug 29, 2009 - Article

I’ll make you humble…

Raping a man is a definitive act of callousness which breaks his spirit and completely drains him from self respect and worthiness. It so badly screws up the man’s mental state that “overthrowing a government” will be the last thing on his shit-list. A man with no self-worth is no danger to society. That’s why addicts are considered no threat to countries’ national security. The acts of gang rape in Iranian prisons should not come as a shock to anybody. I’m baffled at how Iranians act so staggered about this everyday occurrence.>>>

Closed door

I call out to you… to those of you who enjoy utmost liberty in your lands … those of you who have the freedom to register your child at any time, at any school, and to send him/her off to acquire knowledge of all that she/he desire… To those of you who sit back in your armchairs at day’s end and give ear to the news of the world … such news as is meant to inform you of patrol resources and of its price fluctuation in the world market … of the rise and fall of stock from this firm and that factory… or of rocket-science research and countries that have developed nuclear power>>>

Coffee and Conversation (2)

As soon as a nice coffee shop opens up around here, hordes of Gucci knock-offs and disaster nose jobs descend and take away the ambiance. August in LA is stifling. I need to get out. If you drive west on Highway 101 towards Santa Barbara and take the State Street exit, the road twists and turns through the mountains and eventually brings you, in the middle of nowhere, to a slice of Scandinavia – a place that goes by the name of Solvang. Patisseries, ice cream parlors and cafés abound. Once there, it is quite possible to think that one has died and gone to java heaven>>>

The Ascension

Aunt Tahmineh somehow knew she would remain barren until she had found a name for her future child. So for the first fifteen years of her marriage, she and her husband fought over what they would call their unconceived offspring. She liked authentic Iranian names, while her husband, a religious man, insisted on a character from the Koran. Finally they came to an agreement. If the child were a girl, they would name her Farangis, an ancient Iranian heroine. If it were a boy, they would name him Esma’il, a Koranic name which also appears in the Bible as Ishmael, the son of Abraham. Esma’il means “God listens.” Presumably, “God listens to us and has answered our prayer for a child.”>>>

چلیپا

رخسار تو در ظلمت گیسوی چلیپا
صبح دل‌ عشاق بود در شب یلدا

پیمانه صهبای نگاه تو در آن صبح
خود مست و دو صد مست بر آن واله و شیدا

و آن موی که نخجیر گه گله دلهاست
در هر خم او کرده دلی‌ مسکن و ماوا >>>

Lost Game

To the wind I look
standing outside
awaiting you
impatiently
awaiting you with dreamy eyes
here behind all that is next to lost, I stand hopeless
awaiting for the wind to leave
without you
playing a lost game >>>